Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a server that makes an order for a consumable item in an image processing apparatus, an image processing apparatus, and a system.
Description of the Related Art
An image processing apparatus represented by a printer, a copy machine, or a facsimile requires consumable items, such as ink and sheets, in the process of its use. In the case where a consumable item necessary for the image processing apparatus runs out or runs short, normally a user goes to a shop and purchases the consumable item.
In recent years, an image processing apparatus that can connect to the Internet has been developed and there is a consumable item ordering system that makes an order for a consumable item with a shop based on information on the consumable item notified by such an image processing apparatus (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-297237).
This consumable item ordering system has removed a disadvantage that a user needs to go to a shop. However, on the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-297237 has not referred to that a user can arbitrarily set (select) a shop with which an order for a consumable item is made. Consequently, in order to make it possible for a user to arbitrarily set a shop with which an order for a consumable item is made, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-310617 has proposed a consumable item ordering system that enables a user to change a shop via an image processing apparatus by causing an ink tank to have information on a shop, which is an order destination.
However, with the consumable item ordering system of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-310617, it is necessary to cause an ink tank to have information on the shop, which is the order destination, and therefore, there is such a problem that an increase in the cost of the ink tank will result. Further, there is also such a problem that it is not possible to make an order with a shop for consumable items that cannot have information on the shop, for example, such as a sheet.
The present invention has been developed in view of the above-described conventional problems, and an object is to make it possible to set an order destination without causing a consumable item to have information on the order destination.